Abstract

The discharge characteristics in high power pulsed plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is studied with the aim to characterize the impact of high power pulses (HiPP). Using a power scheme of combined HiPP and direct current(DC) to ignite the plasma discharge, and adjusting the HiPP/DC time-averaged power ratio while keeping the total power constant, the effect of the high power pulses was isolated from the total power. By monitoring the discharge current along with the optical emission from the plasma, it is found that the amount of available ions increased with increasing HiPP/DC ratio, which indicates a higher plasma density. Using carbon filmsdeposited from acetylene in an argon plasma as model system, a strong increase in deposition rate with higher HiPP/DC is observed. The increased deposition rate is ascribed to a more efficient plasma chemistry generated by the denser plasma.

Received 27 January 2014Accepted 21 February 2014Published online 04 March 2014

Acknowledgments:

Financial support from the Swedish innovation agency (VINNOVA) and Ångpanneföreningens forskningsstiftelse (ÅForsk) is gratefully acknowledged. Ionautics AB is gratefully acknowledged for providing a HiP3 power supply. D.L. also gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Swedish Research Council (VR) through his postdoctoral fellowship.